Your Artwork has been Awarded at the 2019 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition!
We cannot disclose which award you won at this time. We encourage you to attend the Opening Reception on Tuesday, July 23rd 6-8pm. Please see invitation given to you at the artist drop-off (or mailed to you) for more details. The Award Ceremony will begin at 630pm in the Rotunda."

I've no clue as to what prize it might be - probably not a major one, though. Still, I'm excited to have an award for the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Competition - there were more than 2200 entries - mostly 2D works, but a good selection of 3D as well.

I will post an update after I find out what the award is...

Here's my artist's statement:

The natural world offers many inspirations. I am a botanist by day and a woodturner/carver in whatever spare time I can glean from the week. My work has focused on the use of surface enhancements that employ botanical or other biological motifs.

Beloved originated with the loss of a maple tree at an 1800s homestead in Tennessee. The tree was on the property of a good friend whose family has lived in this home from its beginning. The maple was also an original inhabitant of the property. My friend asked artists in the woodturning community to make something from the wood of her beloved tree so that she would have a collection of photos celebrating the life of the tree. I hope my rendering of leaves from the wood of this beloved maple tree has done honor to my friend’s memories of her life-long home.

Just for context, this is from Vicki Jordan's tree. She sent out hundreds of wood blanks from her beloved tree. It took me a bit longer than I had expected to finish this piece, because of the deep curve on the rim, plus the wood was rock hard! I can't begin to tell you how many hours of work (and cussing) this piece took, but I'm glad it will have some recognition at this year's Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit.

I appeared on NPR’s Here & Now news show on May 9, 2019, to talk about the recent UN Report on Biodiversity. Check out the interview to learn more about the challenges for plants in the current extinction crisis.

Ray Key was a larger-than-life character, and a masterful woodturner. He passed away in September 2018. In honor of his memory, more than 100 woodturners from around the globe were sent rough-turned pieces that were in Ray’s shop at the time of his death. Each artist was asked to complete the piece in their signature style. This post is a story about my memories of Ray Key.

Women in Turning EXCHANGE 2018. One of the more important missions of the WIT Committee is to facilitate interaction among women turners, and to encourage women to help each other learn. A prime example of the kinds of interactions that foster this positive environment is the WIT EXCHANGE that takes place in September, at Arrowmont. We had our first, ever, EXCHANGE last fall.